Egg-tray



'Manara C. S. EWRY.

EGG TRAY.

APPLICATmN FILED Aue,27.1919.

Patented July 6, -1920.

(CHARLES S. EWRY, OF PORTLAND, INDAN.

EGG-TRAY. f

Lafraise.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 6,1920.

Application' filed August 27,1919. Serial No. 320,095.

To all whom #may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES city of Portland, in the county of J ay, State of lndiana, FJgg-T rays, of which the following Iis a full, clear, exposition, the saine being such as will enable others to make and use the same with exactitude.

The object of my present invention, broadly speaking, is to provide egg-trays, for incubators, with means whereby all of the eggs car ried by a tray may be turned almost instantly and by a single movement of the operator,and 'without removingthe tray fromthe incubator, and without removing the eggs-troiathe tray, and also providing means whereby. the eggs4 can roll' only about their longitudi- -nal axes. Therefore to overcome the above mentioned objections, and others not enum- 'erated, -is the particular object of this ini practice. 30,

.ventionr` l The preferred means for carrying out the objects of my 'invention in a practical and eicientmanner is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a` plan view of my .egg-tray as'itfwou'ld appear in y the partitions for the inner tray.

vention, l wi -scription thereof, in which I will set forth the same as' fully and as comprehensively as Imay.V l.

ln the drawings it will be seen that the body or main vtray portion comprises'the end members 1 and 2, and the side members 3 and 4, thereby forming an open .frame which may be of any suitable dimensions.' .Secured on the surfaces ofthemembers 1, 2, 3 and4 note slats which connect the members 1 and 2 and provide supports for the central pory.isa screen wirev 5 which'forms .the `bottom of" the main tray. Numerals 6 and 7 detion of the screen bottom '5.' Covering the edges of the screen 5 and secured to the upper edges of the respective members 1, 2, 3

and 4 are the guards 8, 9, 10 and 11, thereby completing the main tray'or body of thev device."'/The tray. formed asv descr'bed is have invented new and useful vand comprehensive specification and 4the inner tray, bers'16, are the cross partitions 17, 'which vspaced an equal Fig. A2 is a cross section, as taken on the' line 2--2 of Fig. 1. And Fig. 3 `isa detail view showing the manner cfg-'forming i adapted to slide in and out of an incubator,v S. EwRY,'a citizen of the United States, residing in the being supported therein by cleats on which the side members 3 and 4 may slide.

The shiftable or inner tray is composed entirely Vof' sheet metal and it comprises the end members 12 and 13, and the side members 14 and 15, all of which are connected vtogether at theirends.

Dividing the frame of the inner tray lonwhich' are para lel with each other and with the members 1 and 15 and they, together with the members -14 and 15 are spaced an equal distance apart; Likewise dividing at right'f angles to the memare arranged parallel with each other and with the members 12 and'13 and they, to-

gether with the members 12 and 13l are distance apart. At eachr intersection of a member 16 with va member 17 a notch is formed therein, as the respective notches a and Z) shown in Fig. 3. The notches c, for instance, are'cut from the lower edge upward haltthr'ough the mem ber 16.- lAnd the notches Z), for iiistanc'e, are

465 gitudinally are a plurality'of partitions' 16,

cut from the upper edge downward half way lthrough the member 17. Now 'if' the members 16 and 17 be turned at right angles to each lother it is apparent that the' members 16 and 17 may be locked together and located on the same plane with each other, and thereby dividingthe inner tray into a pluralityI ot oblong` or square spaces, as indicated.

The ends of the members 16 and 17 are faces ot the members 12-13 and 141-15, and also each intersection ot a member 16 with a member 17 is soldered or otherwise soldered or otherwise secured to the inner touches at four points z4 two .of the members 1.6 and two of the members 17,or asin the outer spaces, one or two of the members 12, 13, 14 and 15, as indicated in Fig. 1. 'At each-contact point of each of the-oval linings 18 with a member 16, 17, l2, 13, 14 and 15, the same is rigidly secured by soldering or otherwise. f

"lhe interior of each oval lining -16 should correspond with the shape of an egg and should be of a size slightly larger than an egg to be placed therein, in order that the egg may lie loosely therein and roll on the bottom 5 of the main tray.

The inner tray is adapted to rest on the screen or bottom 5, with the sides 141 and 15 near but not in contact with the members and 11. The length of the inner tray is considerably less than is the length of the main tray, being a certain definite proportion, for the reason hereinafter made clear.

In actual practice it is supposed that each of the oval linings 18 will contain an egg A,

and also that the traysV may be of any desii-ed size to contain any number of eggs.

Suppose, now, that the device be arranged as in Fig. 1, with the eggs A in position,

with all or a part of the oval linings filled with eggs:

Desiring now to give the eggs a half-turn one has only to slide the inner tray to the right (Fig. 1) until the member 13 contacts with the member 9 when it will be found that alll of the eggs havebeen given a half turn, as the difference in the length of the trays is such as to accomplish this accurately. Then when it is desired to again turn the eggs the attendant has only to slide the inner tray until the member 12 contacts with the member 8, which manifestly will turn the eggs back to the position in which they aie shown.

y the above it is apparent that one may turn all of the eggs in a tray as quickly as one egg could beA ordinarily turned, and besides the work will be done without danger of breaking the eggs, and without touching the eggs with ones hands.

In practice a plurality of trays, such as described, are placed one above the other in an incubator, forming a section, and there-` fore the eggs in all of the trays of such va section can be tuined at one time if desired, i

and that almost instantly, and without removingthe trays from the incubator.

I desire that it be understood that various changes and variations may be made in the construction from that herein shown and described, without departing from the spirit of my invention, and without sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

Having nowl fully shown and described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters ,Patent of the United States, is-

1. An egg tray comprising in Acombination, a main frame, a screen bottom for said frame, a guard extending up from the main frame, an inner frame slidable only forward and backward in the main frame and resting on said screen bottom,partitions dividing the space in the inner frame into a plui'ality of individual egg compartments, an oval lining secured in each of said compartments and conforming to the shape of an egg and adapted to extend entirely around an egg and of a size only slightly greater than the egg to be located therein, the eggs located in their respective oval linings being supported on said screen bottom, and the limit of movement of the inner frame being -such as to give the eggs located therein a half turn when the inner frame is moved to its limit either, forward or backward, all substantially as shown and described.

2. An egg traycomprising a main frame,

a sci'een bottom for the main frame, means for supporting the central portion of the bottom, a guard extending up from each side of the ma'in frame, an inner frame resting -loosely on the screen bottom and slidable between two members of the guards and adapted to slide toward and from the other two members of the guardswith movements limited so as to cause eggs to be turned only one-half over at each forward or backward movement of the inner frame, sheet metal partitions dividing the inner frame into u substantially square compartments, a sheet metal lining secured in each vcompartment and' each conforming with the shape lof an egg around the longitudinal diameter thereof, all substantially as shown and described. In testimony' whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES S. EWRY. 

